


Fallen

by Kaylathebookworm



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:29:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28419147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaylathebookworm/pseuds/Kaylathebookworm
Summary: This is the story of how Cinder falls, striving for a power that she can never reach. One-shot, not related to any of my other works.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a one shot where Cinder dies fighting the summer maiden. I just wanted to write something kinda dark, since I've been writing a lot of fluffy stuff lately. And now, this!

All her life, Cinder had been nameless. She had been no one, an orphan, a servant, disposable and irrelevant. She had been shackled in collars and kicked around. She was nothing.

But not anymore.

She had taken the power that she was destined for. She had become the Fall maiden. She was strong. She was powerful. She was free.

And yet, it wasn’t enough. She wasn’t free, not yet. Not until she was  _ truly _ strong,  _ truly _ powerful. Not until she held the power of all four maidens would she have freedom. She wasn’t strong enough to stand against the whole world, not yet. But one day, she would be powerful enough that no one could ever take that power from her again.

And no one would ever forget her name.

Cinder Fall. It was perfect. It was  _ hers _ . It was a symbol of the power that she had wrested from this cruel world. She was the Fall Maiden, and no one could ever take control of her again.

And soon, she would have the power of the Summer Maiden, too. Then, she would be strong. Then, she would be powerful. Then, she would be free.

All she had ever wanted was to be free.

Cinder strode through the horribly hot, disgusting town, regretting her choice of footwear. Glass heels were not meant for the deserts of Vacuou, but she had a look to maintain. But heels were a symbol of strength, a symbol of power, a sign that you were to be feared.

Madame had worn heels, and Cinder had killed her. Cinder had killed  _ everyone _ who had ever hurt her. Except for the Rose brat, and those pesky other maidens. But she would kill them, one day.

She would be stronger than them all. And then, no one could ever hurt her again.

The Summer Maiden, it was said, wore a white cloak, and possessed silver eyes. She had been gone for many years, but she was back, now, and according to her sources, there was a woman in this ridiculous village that had power. Of course, she used it for stupid things like making flowers grow and killing grimm. She was pathetic. Undeserving of the power that Cinder knew belonged to her.

“Where,” Cinder choked out, approaching a vendor in the marketplace, “can I find the woman in the white cloak.”

“She lives down at the South end of town. You can’t miss it, her house is surrounded by plants,” the vendor said, far too cheerfully.”

Cinder just nodded. This woman had no idea what was coming for her. Finally, an easy fight. 

Cinder smirked as she walked. It was a fairly short walk outside of town, although she kept having to summon breezes to cool herself off. Maidens did  _ not _ sweat like commoners. She was far too good for that. Every time she stumbled in the damned sand, she cursed, but she refused to relinquish her heels, however impractical they were. She would show this woman power. She would show her what it was like to be free. And then she would snuff out her life.

The woman in the white cloak was outside of her disturbingly cute cottage, tending her adorable garden when Cinder arrived. Cinde scoffed at the sight. What a waste of power.

“Hey! You! Woman in white!” Cinder called.

The woman turned as Cinder approached, humming a tune. “Oh hello! Can I help you?” she asked gently.

Cinder grimaced. She looked so much like Ruby Rose. It wouldn’t be hard to summon the anger to defeat her.

“Yes. You can hand over that power of yours. It belongs to me,” she smirked.

The woman’s brows creased in mock confusion. “What power? I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Cinder was growing angry already. She stalked closer to the woman and got in her face. “Don’t play coy with me,  _ Summer Maiden _ . I’m here for your maiden powers.”

“Oh.” her face grew sad. “Salem sent you.”

“She did. And I will take what is mine.” Cinder stepped back and summoned a ball of flames in her hand. Her favorite weapon. She felt the power respond to her call, and the flames light in her eyes.

The Summer Maiden sighed, and then her features shifted into a look of determination. Silver flames formed from her eyes, and a gale was summoned in her hands.

“I don’t wish to fight you,” the woman said. “Walk away from this, and no one needs to get hurt.”

“Too late,” Cinder growled, striking with her fire. She stumbled as she was met with hurricane-force winds which pushed her backwards. She barely remained standing, and cursed her heels as she stumbled.

“So. That's how it is,” Cinder said, lighting flames beneath her feet and pushing herself into the air. This would be a true fight, then. This would be a maiden battle, and she would win.

Cinder scowled, and reached out with her grimm arm, aiming to grab the woman by the throat. She screeched as it was met with a blade, and barely pulled back in time to save her fingers. This woman was better than she expected, but she had to win. She had to be strong. She had to be powerful. She had to be free.

The white-cloakes woman rose into the air, too, her winds supporting her. “Girl,” she shouted over the screaming of her gale, “please stop this madness! Don’t you understand what Salem wants? She’s going to destroy the world if she gets all of the relics, and you will not survive!”

“Maybe I won’t!” Cinder cried. “But I will know power, I will know freedom, and then everyone who has ever hurt me will be  _ dead _ !” She refused to sit here and be lectured by this woman. There was nothing worth salvaging in this world, and if she was a part of the destruction of everyone and everything that had stolen her freedom from her, that had made her  _ powerless _ and  _ weak _ ; then so be it. It was a price she would be willing to pay.

And all she had to do was kill this one pesky woman.

Cinder summoned two blades, one in each hand, and lunged into the winds. She used her own fire to push through them; her own power to push back. She was suddenly met with no resistance as the woman dropped the winds that had been blocking her path, and Cinder went flying as the woman pushed herself out of the way and dodged.

Cinder scowled. She would  _ not _ be played with. She would  _ not _ be made a fool of, and she would  _ not _ lose this battle.

She screeched and righted herself in the air, summoning more of her burning blades, which circled around her, like the weapons of the toy Winter Maiden.

The woman in white produced her own blades, twin swords to match Cinder’s own.

Cinder threw all of her floating blades at the woman, and while she was distracted, lunged for her throat again with the grimm arm. The woman was caught off guard, deflecting the blades, and Cinder slammed her into the ground. The winds died as the woman was pinned by her throat.

Cinder grinned. Her triumph was at hand. She drew closer to the woman, and held her blade poised to strike a fatal blow.

Until the world went white. And  _ burned _ . The pain was excruciating, and engulfed her completely. Cinder fell to her knees, arm burned away, screaming in pain. Every part of her was burning, she was burning, she thought the whole  _ world _ might be burning.

She groaned, writhing in pain on the ground, trying to pull herself away from the woman who stood above her, cloaked in white.

“I will not be giving you my power,” she said, “and I cannot allow you to aid in Salem’s destruction of the world. I don’t want to harm you, but I have been left with no choice.

The Summer Maiden struck with a blade, and Cinder felt a sharp pain blossom in her chest. She gasped, and as the light faded from her eyes, as her glass slippers shattered, Cinder Fall felt herself falling, falling, falling into the blackness.


End file.
